"When I got saved, God became my art agent"

The LATimes, which can generally be counted on to be a bit more culturally relevant than the New York version, takes a look at the dark side of the Painter of Light™. Some claim Christianist portraiteur Thomas Kinkade -- a one-man art empire born in Sacramento -- is actually a ruthless businessman who drives franchisees to financial ruin while "fattening his business associates' bank accounts and feathering his nest with tens of millions of dollars."

The scrutiny comes as fallout after his company recently lost an arbitration to two Virginia dealers, who claimed Kinkade manipulated their religious beliefs to convince them to invest. Stores the couple opened in Charlottesville and Fredericksburg turned out to be financial disasters. Said one dealer: call it "Enron with a Christian twist." Franchisees claim they were undercut by sales to deep discounters like Tuesday Morning, and some even allege that Kinkade -- the nation's self-proclaimed most-collected living artist -- no longer paints the works himself.

The attraction of Kinkade's art always escaped me. Joan Didion said it best, describing scenes that depict "such insistent coziness as to seem actually sinister, suggestive of a trap designed to attract Hanzel and Gretel." Sounds like his business practices may follow suit.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Just what DC needs: another NPR outlet. This time, a Baltimore version may soon be drowning out the last local college station on the air, Maryland's WMUC 88.1. Maybe some of the indie station's vaunted alums, like Connie Chung and The Boondocks creator will rally to their cause and save the day?

Taxi Politics

As despicable as I think most DC cab drivers are, the local law prohibiting non-residents from registering cabs in can't possibly be constitutional. I'll chalk it up to some nefarious collusion between Washington taxi drivers and their would-be regulators.

Hollywood Letdown

I agree with a lot of critics -- linked by Andy Towle -- who think that Crash won because it was the less discomfiting choice for straight liberals. It also felt like a very insider-LA movie that would appeal to industry people. CT commented how ridiculous it was that Brokeback Mountain won for everything except acting. Mostly I'm just disapponted because the Best Picture Oscar® would have encouraged more holdouts to see the film. (Because if it's not that great, they'd just as soon not.) Honestly, after all the puerile gay-cowboy jokes from the less-than-impressive Jon Stewart, I think the Academy owed it to us.

P.S. On a related note, I'm annoyed that Netflix's award listings show only past winners, not nominees.

Slamdunk

Law schools lose their case for barring military recruiters in protest of Don't Ask-Don't Tell. Roberts wrote the opinion, but it was unanimous. Initial legal analysis here.

Net Nannies

B'haus readers with kids may be few and far between, and those may have yet to face the question raised by this WaPo op-ed: Where should a good parent draw the line on monitoring their children on the Internets?

One mother told me she discreetly checks the p0rn sites in her teenage son's history folder to make certain they're not too extreme. I cringed, too, but her approach may be realistic; teenage boys will be teenage boys, and they're not just looking at centerfolds these days.

(Would gay.com count as "extreme," I wonder?) The author seemed particularly keen on tracking her kids' instant messages. Okay, the rest of you can now go back to worrying about what their spouses/significant others are surfing. Or in Ben's case, worrying about his bosses blocking access at the office.

Assimilation

I know, I know. I've bought an iPod and I've stopped caring about TiVo. Standing on principle can be hard. But for those who still think it matters, Verizon Wireless will soon let you program your TiVo from your mobile phone.